Vodka Shots and Headshots- A Weekend in Baltimore

I haven't been to Baltimore in years, so I wasn't sure what my aunt and uncle would want to do when I visited last weekend.  When I was little we would go to a lot of museums in the city and I still like to do that, but this time my aunt wanted to go to a Christmas tree festival and my uncle, an avid gun collector (I say collector instead of enthusiast since he loves historical guns so I feel like the hobby for him is more than just "let's shoot stuff") had plans to go to the gun range.  I chose to go to the gun range with him since I had shot a rifle as a kid (back before Columbine when they offered shooting as a camp activity) and was actually pretty decent.  Also, as an avid gamer who prefers shooters, I was ready to get my Max Payne on.  This time we would be shooting my uncle's 9mm and a revolver, which I had no experience with.  The 9mm scared me a bit to be honest, it's a very heavy gun with a harsh kickback and the used bullet shells fly back at your face, I really did not like that.  The revolver I quite enjoyed, it was so 1940's film noir, I kept pretending I was assassinating an ex lover in a red evening dress :P  it was also lightweight and the used bullets stayed in the chamber, nothing flying back at your face.  The range didn't allow photo taking inside so I just took some empty shells for souvenirs as well as my target.  They also had a strict "no headshots" policy which I umm...did not stick to.  Whoops!  In my defense, my uncle said I was a natural and just have built in great aim!

My mom modeling my uncle's WW2 gun

After shooting, my uncle took me on a drive around this awesome abandoned industrial area that he explained used to be booming in the 70's and 80's.  I have a weird fascination for all things abandoned, it just calls to some part of my brain, I'm intrigued at how an area or building can be so in use and then be completely left as if it never existed.

Down the Rabbit Hole...

Saturday night my mom and aunt decide to stay in and relax and my uncle and I went out for drinks.  We went to a small restaurant in Elicott City called The Rumor Mill which makes artisan vodkas in bizarre flavors and offers very unique foods.  I ended up just getting some vodka cranberries bc I can't really do straight vodka, even flavored, and they don't offer regular drinks like margaritas.  For food we got a plate of cilantro beef with cucumber, a plate of Brie with different marmalade toppings like bacon marmalade, peach, pesto, and fig.  I also got a bowl of pumpkin soup with coconut juice which was really nice!  For dessert my uncle and his friend got ice cream and we were given complementary strawberry canolis which I had

 Modular Surrealist glasses= love

Late night in Elicott City

Our final day we went for lunch at a diner near my aunt and uncle's house and on the way I saw this awesome statue looming ahead and of course got excited because of how weird it was 

Getting closer I realized the king statue was actually for the "Enchanted Forest" amusement park (which is now a shopping center) and had a little moment since this amusement park was used in the John Waters film "CryBaby" which is one of my favorite films!  I knew I couldn't leave Baltimore without stumbling upon something John Waters!

 

3 Days in Paris

While in London, my friend and I planned a short getaway to Paris.  This was my first time taking the EuroStar and I was surprised by how quick it was!  We were in Paris in about 2 hours and set out to explore Saint Germain, my old neighborhood, the first day.  It was ridiculously hot, as they were experiencing a heatwave at the time, but it was still great to be back in Paris wandering around.  

Le Bon Marché department store hiding behind the trees

I did a bit of shopping at Zara, and then we went to Le Bon Marché, which I love.  It was pretty empty at the time, and air conditioned (I would have been happy to move in there at that moment to be honest, the heat was killing me) and I love to wander around the maze-like boutiques that surround the main floors.  It's just such a different store, it reminds me of being in the 1960's and 80's all at the same time.

Notre Dame

Lunch at Café Buci

Down the Rabbit Hole...

After our day exploring Saint Germain, we decided to stick with that area for nightlife as well since it's the area I know the best aside from Bastille.  We thought Bastille would better be conquered the following day when we had had a proper rest (we had to be up at 5:30am to get the train from London to Paris).  First, we went to Cafe le Petit Pont, across from Notre Dame.  The place is pretty touristy but we went because my friend told me she had gotten flaming mojitos there once (they put some kind of big sparkler in the drink) so we wanted them, but sadly they didn't seem to have them!  We got regular mojitos instead

Afterwards, we headed over to one of my favorite bars, The Long Hop, because that was much more of a party bar.  It was just how I remembered it except that they now have a Foosball table where they used to set up beer pong.  We had a good night there and got a bunch of glow sticks for our drinks so that kind of made up for missing the flaming mojitos!

The following day, we went to Montmartre since it is my friend's favorite area in Paris.  Honestly, I cannot stand Montmartre.  It's out of the way, overloaded with tourists and cheesy tourist shops, and just not the real Paris to me.  I feel like it's like Times Square, it's just not really a representative of the real city.  There's also a lot of sketchy characters who hang out there and we had our own bit of a run in with some, but I'm not going to go into detail on that.  So anyway, Montmartre really isn't my favorite place, but it makes for some great pictures!

Lunch in Pigalle

Sacré Cœur and views of Paris

Back Streets

Down the Rabbit Hole...

For our second night out, we got to do the one thing I had been wanting to do the most in Paris- go out in Bastille.  I've talked before about my love for the area, I just always have such a good, wild time when I go out there,  I love it.  We headed over to Rue de Lappe, which is a street completely filled with bars, and decided on a place called Charlotte Bar.  I was intrigued because my guinea pig is named Charlotte!  and also because the bars on Rue de Lappe change pretty frequently, I had never been to this one.  It reminded me a lot of New York style bars, it had air conditioning (my elation was unmatched when I found this out) and inside the look was very modern red and black decor mixed with massive wall collages of all types of iconic pop culture images.  The music was mostly American hip hop which isn't really my style but we met some great people and had a fun night

 

Jay Z and Kanye above the bar

The ceiling!

Epic awesome wall

After Charlotte Bar was Balajo (which I believe used to be called Balajo Latino), a place I know but had never actually been to before.  The inside is really hard to describe, they had these weird decorations on the wall that were like things out of one of those Halloween fun houses.  It was such a surreal experience!  I don't have any pics from there as it was really late at night and we were wrapping things up, but it was interesting!

A bit of whimsy at home after a long night

The next day was our last, so we didn't do much, but we grabbed lunch at a cafe at the end of our street called La Barrique, and they literally had the best cheeseburger I have ever had in my life!  Definitely recommend it!

Down the Rabbit Hole, London

Most of my London nights out were spent in Café Bohème in Soho. I quite liked this bar, it was very old world Parisian and sleek, and seemed to be a good after work or after theatre spot. One night, my friend spotted that they had Absinthe, and being the Baroque/Victorian princess that I am, we just had to order some!  Mostly it just tasted like Sambuca (a favorite of my father) and was hard to drink because I hate licorice, but it did have some interesting effects. 

Soho is a fun area to wander around even during the day, but it really comes to life at night.  I like the small historic streets and the way that the modern mixes with the traditional.  On one corner you might find a massive theatre with bright lights and glitter and then next door a very old pub with soft, warm lighting and old fashioned decor.  I would have loved to have some nights out in the East End as well since the bars that I saw there definitely felt like more my style, but there just isn't time for everything!

Vintage Voyage- Dublin (Part 3)

 Down the Rabbit Hole...

Dublin nightlife.  Where do I even start!  As I mentioned in Part 1, you really only need about 3-4 days to see Dublin, but when it comes to nightlife, my 2 weeks there were not enough!  I absolutely love the nightlife in Dublin.  Everyone has their own taste when it comes to evening activities, but for me, I'm 23 and I love rowdy bars where you can make friends with everyone as well as calm bars where you can have a nice convo with friends.  In Dublin I mostly went for the rowdy bars.  My first few nights, I stayed away from the Temple Bar area because I had read many places that it's all tourists and it's too crazy, and everyone is a drunk mess, etc and so I tried to find other bars in different areas.  I wasn't really a fan of any that I went to, I wasn't meeting anyone (one of the reasons I like nightlife so much when I travel is because I make so many friends this way) and they just weren't really my style.  So, I decided to try out Temple Bar and see what it was that so many people didn't like.  I honestly have no idea why people don't like it and I wish I hadn't wasted those first few nights going other places.  I love Temple Bar.  It's got the atmosphere I was looking for, which I guess is what some people don't like.  I love places that stay open till the wee hours of the morning with rowdy young people my age all crammed into an old bar ready to drink and just see where the night takes them.  That's a great night out to me. If someone is looking for a quiet dinner or something, that's fine, that's just not my style at all.  My first night out in Temple Bar I met a group of girls that I ended up spending the rest of my trip with, and am still in touch with.  We all had a great time with each other, and hit up just about every bar there was to see in Dublin, Temple Bar, Stag's Head, Quay's, O'Gogarty's, the Palace, all of them.  I love the bars of Temple Bar, but the actual Temple Bar is my favorite.  It's just my type of vibe.  Nearly every single night we met more people and had some kind of interesting evenings because of it, from the time that we met Italian tourists who had a lawn gnome with them for no reason at all to the time when a local guy mimed out what men's room etiquette was (I have pics of both of these!).  Temple Bar isn't even just the bars, the vibe and energy of the place spills out into the streets, making the whole area a type of patio where you never know what's going to happen next.  I really love those nights, and I cant wait to get back to Dublin someday so that I can experience it all again!

 

Me drinking with my friends (I'm the blonde)

 

 

The infamous gnome!

 

Mens Room Lesson

 

One of my fav pics I had no idea my friend took, into the Dublin night (I'm on the left)

 

 Aside from bars, I also did 2 night tours while in Dublin, one ghost tour, and one pub crawl.  The ghost tour was the Dublin Ghost Bus (http://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/ghostbus/index.aspx), which is the only ghost tour available there to my knowledge.  It was fun, we went to many different haunted sites around Dublin including cemeteries, hospitals, and a church where the devil himself apparently showed up one day.   The pub crawl I did was the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, (http://www.dublinpubcrawl.com) which I had a great time on!  Obviously being a Literature buff, this was right up my alley, but they also offer a musical one.  The tour guides were great, often reciting passages from various Dublin authors' works at different bar stops and teaching the group tons of facts and history.  I loved it!

Here's a list of all the bars I've been to in Dublin, with some thoughts

- Palace Bar - 21 Fleet St, Dublin 2.  This is an old "gin palace" bar, very Victorian in its decor and style but kind of depends on the people there at the time.  One time I went and had a calm evening and another when I went with the girls we met up with some boys up from London and had a great night enjoying live music in the attic, with my friend even playing a few songs on the guitar herself.  Little moments like that really make a place remain special in your mind

- O'Neill's - I had breakfast here one morning and the I think I came back with the Pub Crawl.  They have a great rooftop garden area which you wouldn't guess from the inside or outside, it's a nice place, but the crowd here was a little older

- Gogarty's - 58 Fleet Street, Dublin 2.  Gogarty's has great live music if you're looking for that.  The night that I went it was kind of dead, so I moved on pretty quickly, but it's still a good time.  Mostly 30-something couples 

- Buskers -  13 Fleet St, Dublin 2.  This wasn't my favorite place it was more club-like but it was open late and we weren't done drinking yet that night, so we went here.  Odd selection of beers, they had one with a tiger on the label.  Mostly younger crowd and rock music

- The Temple Bar - 47-48 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.  My starting line every night.  Love this place.  Great energy, met so many people.  The crowd is all ages but as the night gets later it's mostly 20's and 30's.  I'd have no problem spending the whole night at Temple Bar, I just love it!

- Quays Bar - 12 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.  Live music, most people in early 20's/30's.  Good jump off point for heading out to other bars afterwards.  Random note- I had lunch here one day too, since there really aren't many restaurants in Dublin I noticed.  There's a lot of quick cafe type places, but not many restaurants.  I mostly ate at bars

- The Stag's Head- 1 Dame Court, Dublin 2.  I honestly don't remember much about the bar itself bc this was a last stop one night, but we had drinks outside which was a lot of fun.  The 3rd photo above was taken outside this bar.

- The Long Hall - 51 S Great George's St, Dublin. When we went, it was really calm and quiet in here, which was nice for a change.  This is another old Gin Palace type of bar which is always fun because they make you feel like you're in an antique or something.  We were literally the only three people in here when we went so I can't comment on the crowd!

- The Duke Pub - Nice pub with a slightly older crowd.  The Pub Crawl leaves from here, so I didn't get to spend much time in it